Recognition of fused dichotic words: an examination of the effects of head-turn and perceived spatial position.
Ear advantages for verbal stimuli were determined for male and female right-handed subjects using a fused dichotic words test. Subjects performed the word recognition task with their heads turned 90 degrees to the left, 90 degrees to the right, and straight ahead. In addition, subjects provided subjective judgements with regard to the perceived spatial position of the sound. A significant right ear advantage was evidenced under all three head turn conditions, although the magnitude of the REA was reduced in the right head turn condition. There was no significant effect of sex. Judgements of perceived spatial position indicated that subjects perceived the fused sound as coming from the centre of the head, regardless of the head's orientation with respect to the body. These findings suggest that ear of entry rather than the perceived position of a sound source is the major factor in determining the perceptual asymmetries observed with dichotic stimuli.
Murray
J E
JE
University of Auckland, New Zealand.
McLaren
R
R
D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009949:Orientation; D000091402:Prohibitins; D011571:Psychoacoustics; D013017:Sound Localization